Dalton’s the man to lead federal Liberals, says brother David

Lawrence Martin is the author of 10 books, including six national bestsellers. His most recent, Harperland, was nominated for the Shaughnessy Cohen award. His other works include two volumes on Jean Chrétien, two on Canada-U.S. relations and three books on hockey.

It was only a week ago that Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty dismissed speculation that he might be interested in seeking the leadership of the federal Liberals.

But in an interview yesterday, his brother, MP David McGuinty, said the federal party should look to Dalton because he could “rebuild the Liberal party, just like he did in Ontario.”

David, who talks to his brother frequently, gave every indication Dalton might be interested in making the jump. While saying Bob Rae was doing an excellent job as interim leader, he noted that “he gave his pledge that he would not seek the permanent leadership.” In his current position, he said Rae should be “out there like Bill Graham was as interim leader soliciting possible new candidates to enter the race for the leadership.”

Meanwhile MP Scott Brison said yesterday if Rae decides to seek the permanent leadership he should step down as interim leader so as to make it a level playing field for other contenders. David McGuinty himself has been considering a bid for the leadership. He said he and his brother “will be having some interesting discussions over the Christmas holidays.”

In reference to federal Liberals who have been approaching Dalton about a possible interest, he said “it would be wholly unnatural if people didn’t look to the premier of Ontario and say, ‘Geez, he just won three times in a row and it hasn’t been done in 126-odd years. He kind of knows what he is doing, and the team he built is a high performing team.”

He said Dalton has many of the strengths of Stephen Harper, principally discipline, a great sense of logistics and work ethic. “It’s not personality or charm. My brother is living proof of that.”

No provincial premier has ever made a successful leap to leadership in the federal arena. Should he be interested, though, Dalton McGuinty is not likely to show any indication of it. His government was only recently re-elected to a minority and he has lots on his plate in trying to keep it afloat. The federal leadership convention will not be held until 2013 however, meaning the premier probably has close to a year to make up his mind.

Rae has been receiving many plaudits as interim leader. He was voted parliamentarian of the year by his peers this week. It was quite an honour, noted his caucus colleague John McCallum, given the big numbers from other parties who had to vote for him in order to win.

Meanwhile, despite his pledge of last spring, Bob Rae has given signs he wants the permanent leadership position. Sheila Copps, the leading candidate for the party presidency — which will be decided at a party convention in January — stirred the pot in saying Rae should be allowed the right to seek it. Even MP Carolyn Bennett, who has supported Rae’s bid for the top spot in the past, said yesterday that Copps’ statement was “not helpful,” adding that the party needed to avoid leadership controversies at this time.

While the caucus is very enthusiastic about Rae’s performance, many share the view of Scott Brison that if he runs for the bigger position, he should step down as interim leader out of fairness to other candidates. A case in point is David McGuinty, himself, who relinquished his post as Liberal house leader because of his possible leadership ambitions and has had a lower profile since doing so.

Rae will be 67 at the time of the next federal election. In an apparent reference to the age issue, David McGuinty said a key question will be any leadership candidate’s “capacity for growth.” He said that “if we’re honest here, we’re talking about an eight year rebuilding project.”

McGuinty said it is up to Bob Rae to make his intentions clear. Rae, however, doesn’t wish to be rushed into doing that. He wants to continue to make gains for the party and see where things stand down the line. But with the party convention in January and debate over the Copps’ candidacy for president – she is seen as a stalking horse for Rae by many – pressure will grow. Earlier this week, Copps reaffirmed her position of support for Rae’s freedom to run for the full time job, saying “it would be up to Rae to defend his reversal.”